Law firms get $490,000 worth of Paterson legal contracts

Municipal officials awarded $490,000 worth of legal contracts to 16 law firms last week to handle lawsuits and other legal matters.

Members of the City Council approved the contracts on Tuesday night. Some of the firms are tied to influential political leaders in the state.

New Jersey Assembly speaker Craig Coughlin is a partner in the Rainone Coughlin Minchello law firm; Kevin O’ Toole, a former state senator, who is chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is a partner at the O’Toole Scrivo Fernandez Weiner Van Lieu firm.

Mayor Andre Sayegh expanded the list of attorneys after coming into office last July. His list included several new law firms. Among them the firm of Genova, Burns & Vernoia, which sent out a threatening letter on Sayegh’s behalf to supporters of other candidates in the mayoral race last year.

This year Sayegh’s administration added the law firms of Leitner Tort, DeFazio & Brause; and Bevan, Mosca & Giuditta.